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Each week it will be your job to complete a number of tasks which are not time consuming, but beneficial to your learning at school.Homework can be recorded in an Exercise book, in Evernote or other creative ways. It is really up to you. Homework is compulsory and must be completed each week.

These will be:

Nightly reading and words you did not understand (find their meanings and synonyms). Record in reading tracker. If you don’t have one of these, see your teacher immediately.

Spelling (word lists from school as well as words you may have misspelt in your writing books).

Writing (one piece per week). It can be a narrative, poem, invitation, persuasive (exposition) or any other text type you wish to write about.

Times Tables are a must. It will be expected that you complete a times table each week and then be partner tested each week to check answers and speed.

This term there will be a focus on persuasive writing. It will be your job during the homework period to write a persuasive piece on one of the following topics:

Scoreboards should be banned at Junior sporting matches.

Social Media (facebook,twitter, etc) is affecting our ability to talk to one another.

Canteens should only sell healthy foods.

Soft drinks and fast food should not be sold to children under the age of 18.

Remember, each of your paragraphs needs to have the following structure as shown to the left. Example: First paragraph

Obesity is becoming a very concerning health problem for Australians. Doctors have warned citizens that if they do not watch what they eat and start exercising more they could end up dying of serious health problems. Doctor Nevario, a leading health specialist said if something isn’t done quickly, we could face more strokes, heart attacks or even death in the near future. Data suggests that overall, people are choosing less healthy options and doing far less exercise than they were 10-20 years ago. We need to go back to our healthier days to ensure a healthier future for our nation.

Reading should occur nightly and must be tracked using the supplied reading tracker. Please see your teacher if you have misplaced yours.

After each nightly reading, a short summary can be recorded in a homework book, in Google Drive or in Evernote. This is to check for your understanding of the text.

It would be great to see you read a balance of fiction and non-fiction texts because this will help you build up your vocabulary and understand a greater variety of topics.

Times tables must be practised nightly to ensure fluency and automatic recall of answers. Only practise those times tables which you have not mastered yet. Write them down, say them, race yourself and others at home. Whatever your method is, do it!

The task

Plan and design your own “dream house” within certain cost constraints. Here are the budget, cost, and building rules you will have to work with.

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You will have $400,000 to spend altogether.

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The land for the house costs $100,000.

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Construction of “regular” rooms (traditional rooms with no special requirements) costs $75 per square metre.

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Construction of “special” rooms (requiring special wiring, plumbing, or unusual materials) costs $150 per square metre. Any remaining money may be used to furnish your rooms. All items must have a cost attached to them and must be included in your budget.

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All houses must include a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living room.

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Rooms and hallways must have reasonable areas.

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The overall design must be convenient and practical (e.g., provide easy access to rooms, allow for privacy, include doors and hallways in practical locations, etc.).

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The number of sides to your floor plan should be limited, to avoid a sprawling, awkward design.

To get started, you will:

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Complete a rough draft of your floor plan by cutting out the rooms from graph paper.

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Record the calculations of the area and cost on the cut-out of the room.

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Track your budget on a running budget sheet (“Budget Update”).

An example of a finished house design, with all living spaces included and a clear and simple layout.

Welcome to 5/6 Homework 2014. This year homework will be available on this blog site. Students have the option of completing their homework either on Google docs, in a Word document on the computer or in a hard copy.

Students will need to bring their homework in each Friday, but the end result is not due until Friday 21st March. Students need to learn to manage their time so that they complete the homework over a longer period of time than in previous year levels.

If students require any help with homework they should ask their classroom teacher prior to the due date.

Enjoy!

You will need to read every night and record your reading on the reading tracker. While you are reading focus on the CAFE strategies that we have covered in class as well as your individual goals. Complete each of the following activities while reading;

– Use your prior knowledge and experiences to make predictions about the text, supporting your predictions with evidence.

– Use post it notes to ask questions before, during and after reading to help monitor your understanding.

– Summarise what you have read remember key ideas, events and details.

This term we are focussing on narrative writing. Using one of the pictures below as a prompt, write a narrative. Make sure you include a plan and that your narrative is structured correctly with a clear orientation, complication and resolution. Also ensure that you are using ‘show and not tell’ writing to hook the reader in.

Complete the following budgeting activity;

What is a budget?

A budget is a list that helps you remember how much money you have to buy things.

How to make a budget;

1. Write down the money that you get.

2. Write down the money that you spend when you buy things.

Here is how it works:

If your parents give you $2 a week for pocket money, then your “Income” (or Money) is $2.

If you want to buy a toy that costs $6, then you know you won’t have enough money yet. You only have $2 now.

If you save your money for three weeks, you will have enough money to buy the toy!

Your challenge is to create a ‘make believe’ budget for the next 4 weeks. We will give you $25 a week in imaginary money (a total of $100) which will need to last you until homework is due. You will need to use catalogues and/or websites (e.g. Woolworths and Coles) to budget enough money for you to purchase essential foods that you will need to survive (and maybe some treats if you budget well) e.g. bread, milk, meat etc.

Below is an example of a budget which might help to get you started. Don’t forget that the $25 needs to last you for the week. You will be paid your ‘imaginary money,’ each Friday, so don’t over spend.

Postcard: write a postcard to a character in the book, explaining how you feel about their actions.

Mapmaker: draw a detailed map of the book’s setting.

Moviemaker: write a “pitch” to a producer explaining why the story would or would not make a great movie.

Trailer: if your book was going to be made into a movie, which scenes would be the best to put into a trailer? Create a story board which outlines the best scenes in the book for this.

Billboard: as in the movies, take what seems the most compelling image(s) and create an ad for the book if it were to be made into a movie.

Adjective-itis: pick five adjectives for the book or character(s), and explain how they apply.

Collage: create a collage around themes or characters in the book.

Book Review: write a review of your book.

Dear Author: write to the author of your book, asking any questions about the book.

Timeline: create a timeline that includes the events in the novel.

Gender-Bender: rewrite a scene and change the gender of the characters to show how they might act differently e.g. how would Boys Without Names be different if the main character was a female?

Fictional Friends: who of all the characters would you want for a friend? Why? What would you do or talk about together?

State of the Union: the Prime Minister wants to recommend a book to the nation: tell him one important realization you had while reading this book and why he should recommend it.

Dear Diary: keep a diary as if you were a character in the story. Write down events that happen during the story and reflect on how they affected the character and why.

PROCEDURE WRITING!

Choose a fun/interesting procedure to write at home.

Make sure your procedure includes:

– a relevant title.

– goal.

– materials.

– steps.

– relevant images or diagrams.

NARRATIVE WRITING!

Answer the following questions:

1. Miss Spink was driving home when she spotted a big green gorilla on the side of the road. She screeched to a stop, jumped out of her car. She saw the outline of a number on the gorilla. She couldn’t quite see the number, but she knew it was a 4 digit number. And:

She remembered seeing a number 1.

In the hundreds place she remembers the number is 3 times the number in the thousands place.

She said the number in the ones place is 4 times the number in the tens place.

Finally she said the number 2 is sitting in the thousands place.

What is the number?

2. Mrs Cotter bought 7 t-shirts, one for each of seven of her friends, for $9.95 each. The cashier charged her an additional $13.07 in sales tax. She left the store with $7.28. How much money did Mrs Cotter start with?

3.

a) If you saved $2.00 on January 1, $4.00 on February 1, $6.00 on March 1, $8.00 on April 1, and so on, how much money would you save in one year?

b) If you saved $2.00 on January 1, $4.00 on February 1, $8.00 on March 1, $16.00 on April 1, and so on. How much money would you save in one year?

4. Miss Zinghini made a list of all the whole numbers between 1 to 100. How many times did she write the number 2?

Stories are made up of conflicts and solutions. Choose three conflicts that take place in the story and give the solutions.

Make a “wanted” poster for one of the characters or objects in your book. Include a drawing or cut out picture of the character or object, a physical description of the character or object, the character’s or object’s misdeeds, other information about the character or object which is important, the reward offered for the capture of the character or object.

Make a Venn diagram of similarities and differences between two characters in the book.

Make an illustrated timeline showing events of the story. Include a 2‐3 sentence explanation.

Draw or paint a picture of an important scene or chapter using two or more of the following media: paint, crayons, chalk, paper, ink, real materials – attach a two‐sentence descriptor.

Create a mini‐comic book relating a chapter of the book.

Write two original poems that relate to your book.

Record a commercial advertising the book.

Write and perform a song that tells the story of the book.

Choose three passages in the book and select a piece of music that represents the mood of each passage. Write two sentences explaining how each piece of music relates to the scene.

Find two songs or poems that relate to the theme of your book. Write two sentences explaining how the songs relate to the theme.

Make a Venn diagram showing the ways you are like/unlike one of the characters in your story. Include 5 ideas in each section of the Venn diagram.

Complete each of these eight ideas: This book made me wish that…, realise that…, decide that…, wonder about…, see that…, believe that …, feel that…, and hope that…

2. Choose a two characters from any book, short story, play, poem and describe the character. Remember to include-

What the character looks like

How the character acts

How other characters react to this character

3. Find and interesting newspaper article. Summarise the information in your own words and write the main points from the article. Discuss any pictures included, why do you think the editor chose those images and why?

Choose a topic relating to our Big Idea of Survival and write an information report.

For lunch, Emma, Rosa, and Vanya each bring a sandwich (a tuna roll, a turkey wrap, or a veggie wrap) and a drink (water, milk, or apple juice). Both Rosa and Emma bring wraps. Vanya does not drink juice. Emma does not eat fish or meat and is allergic to apple
juice. The person who brings tuna doesn’t bring water. What does each person bring for lunch?

What is the question?

What are the sandwiches and drinks?

What do you know about:

a. Emma? b. Rosa? c. Vanya?

What other fact do you know?

The train from Point Pleasant leaves at 5:47 and arrives in Long Branch 33 minutes later. After waiting at theLong Branch station for 14 minutes, the train leaves for New York. The trip from Long Branch to New York takes 1 hour 20 minutes. What time does the train
arrive in New York?

Maddy takes the train from Point Pleasant to Long Branch. She needs 12 minutes to walk from her apartment to the Point Pleasant train station and 12 minutes to walk from the Long Branch train station to her office. How long does it take Maddy to get from
her apartment to her office?

Mr. Martinez owns his own business. As a salary, he earns 2.5 times as much as Juan. Mr. Martinez makes $2,000 each week. How much is Juan paid per week?
Complete any Mathletics or Literacy Planet tasks.

3. Be read to- you are never too old for a parent or older brother or sister to read to you, ask them to read a page or two of your book. What strategies are they using when they read?

Writing

Collect at least four seeds for your Writer’s Notebook

Narrative Writing-

Find two narrative texts. One you have enjoyed and one you may not have liked very much.

Make a list of the features you notice the author using.

Describe the setting, characters, plot and problem for each text.

Find a sentence or paragraph that uses “show not tell” discuss how it makes you feel.

Describe why you liked or didn’t like the stories.

Describe some connections you made while reading. WHat did the author do in order for you to make the connections?

What if?

Think about were you are right now. Look at the room around you. Think about who is with you.

Write at least 10 ‘What If’ statements. Use your imagination!

Maths

A city wants to plant 4 trees on each block. How many trees will the city need for 784 blocks?

At the aquarium, posters of sharks cost $5 and posters of jellyfish cost $9. Mr. Skinner spent $55 to buy 7 posters. How many of each type of poster did Mr. Skinner buy?

Edmundo’s Floral Shop needs to post 133 cheques to the bank. If they can put 5 cheques in each envelope, how many cheques will be in the final envelope?

At an amusement park, a group of 51 people wants to ride the roller coaster. If each car on the roller coaster holds 7 people, how many people will be in the partially full car?

Of the 16 students in Mrs. Oliver’s art class, one-eighth are in sixth grade. How many sixth graders are in Mrs. Oliver’s art class?

Kiet had $29.80 to spend at the toy store. He bought 2 toy cars that cost $1.70 each and a race track that cost $6.65. How much money does Kiet have left to buy more toys?

In Chung-Hee’s classroom there are red chairs, yellow chairs, and blue chairs. There are 6 red chairs. There are 3 times as many yellow chairs as red chairs, and there are 6 fewer blue chairs than yellow chairs. How many chairs are there in Chung-Hee’s classroom?